A/N: While I haven't lost motivation or the desire to write this story, I have all but completely lost steam at this point. I know what I need to establish in the next part, but I have no idea how I'm going to do it. It's not that it's complicated, it's just that I don't have any ideas. So, if anyone wants to give me a push or discuss the continuation of this story with me, I am open to assistance.
Steve was close behind her as she headed back outside. Reluctantly, she stopped to talk to him.
"What happened?" He asked, looking genuinely confused.
"Bucky is an idiot. That's what happened," This wasn't the first time Steve had heard something like this. Bucky had broken plenty of hearts back in the day. He just couldn't see the correlation at the moment.
"What do you mean?" He was pretty lost and taken aback at how angry Nina was.
"Look, I don't know what his deal is, but he clearly isn't interested in training me today. I'm just going to run some more. If you want to know whats going on, ask him," With that, Nina spun on her heels and stormed off, leaving Steve no less baffled.
Running was a good outlet for a little while, but before long she found herself lying in the grass, staring up at the passing clouds. She lied there for hours, drinking in the fresh air and questioning her life decisions. Had her life not gone off the rails she probably would have been in bed, flipping through her phone, and trying to decide what to have for breakfast. It sounded like a pleasant dream now.
"Yo, Flower Girl," Olivia finally showed up. Nina knew she would. "What's the sitch?" She asked as she plopped down on the ground next to her.
"You tell me, Wade," Despite the nostalgic reference and Olivia's pleasant attitude, she was still grumpy. At this point she was holding onto it just because there was nothing else to do.
"He's jealous, isn't he?" Olivia had no doubt where that was concerned. It was pretty obvious from the get-go.
"That or he hates me," Nina answered bitterly.
"Nah, he doesn't hate you," Olivia bumped her leg against Nina's.
"Forget about him. Lets get some lunch," Olivia forced Nina up, who followed her unwillingly back into the Tower.
The rest of the day's training, since it didn't include Bucky or Thor, went off without a hitch. Well, that is if you consider Nina putting a crack in the foundation a hitch or a design choice. For the rest of the day everyone steered clear and let her vent. This meant no one knew where she was for most of the evening.
A slam caught Nina's attention on her way back to her bedroom. She froze for a second before hurrying down the hall. When she found Thor against the wall with Bucky's hand around his throat, she lost whatever cool she had collected during her time alone.
"Stop it!" She grabbed Bucky's shoulder and gave it a hard pull. She couldn't have moved him if he didn't let her. "Do you want to stop being a child for two fucking minutes? This is ridiculous," She shouted at him. He didn't flinch.
"Nina-"
"No!" She cut Thor off before he could get started.
"Both of you just shut the fuck up and get yourselves together. I'm done with this shit. All of it! Do you think I need this while everything else in my life is going to hell? I've seen people die and I'm sure that's every day fucking business for you two, but I can't handle that. I should be playing some gig in Brooklyn right now and getting ready to go back to school. Now I'm just waiting for the next catastrophe and ruining my personal relationships with my destructive coping mechanisms. So, if you two could stop acting like children and forget I exist, I would really appreciate it," By the time she stopped yelling they were both staring at her, wide eyed, and she was holding back angry tears.
She pushed past them and into her room, slamming and promptly locking the door. She did the same to her bathroom door before getting into the shower, where she had a good cry and tried not to punch anything. That last part was hard to justify since split knuckles and broken bones would heal almost instantly and the pain sounded like a relief.